00:17So the big news seems to be that lockdown is something we're all going to have to start
00:22getting used to. It's not going to be over very quickly. I think the real challenge for everybody
00:29particularly us is to make a sense of new normality. The garden has become such an incredibly important
00:38focus because I suppose we've just got space and air and nature. Nature does have a wonderful
00:46healing element to play in all of this. We eat in the garden, we play in the garden, we spend
00:52an
00:53enormous amount of time in the garden. We drink a phenomenal amount of gin in the garden.
01:01My heart really goes out to everyone who's having to cope confined inside. It must be
01:09just appalling and also anyone who's separated from the rest of their family. We are so lucky.
01:14We have got everyone we love with us. I'm not going to say that it's absolutely idyllically
01:21perfect the whole time. There are moments when it's a little bit Game of Thrones, particularly
01:25Lily in the morning. And our secret is, well it's our panic rooms. All of us are carving
01:31out corners where we can be alone.
01:42I feel like I can have an orange. We are the cheeky guys but charming guys because the cheeky
01:53guys but charming guys do what they're told. And then some of us, when it comes to their sanctuaries,
02:01are going for a green theme. I think I probably am gardening for sanity at the moment. It's somewhere
02:10that I can come and just have an excuse to get away from everything else I have to do.
02:16I have been germinating an awful lot of tomato plants, it's true. It does look as if I'm
02:23going into tomato farming. But I am hoping that when lockdown is finished I might be able
02:29to swap them for something a bit more useful. I quite like the idea of throwing tomatoes at
02:36all my family at the moment. Particularly at the dogs. One or two of the cats. And obviously
02:43many, many, many at my husband. It's somewhere that I can come and just have an excuse to get
02:51away from everything else I have to do. And hide by the bins. Which everybody thinks is
02:58terribly funny because I've got the most beautiful garden in the world but it's so overpopulated
03:01by animals and humans. Job applications to become bin men in our area have radically increased.
03:08What's going on in the garden is an absolute revelation to me. I'm normally
03:12not here at this time of year. I'm filming my shows in Australia or then there's the apartment
03:20in Asia. So it means that I've not really ever seen how beautiful this garden can look at this
03:27time in the spring. And I'm quite moved by it. In fact I'm so moved by it I've decided
03:32to actually do something about it and draw it. Which is weird. I have not drawn nature since
03:37I was at college. I've always found nature rather disappointing. Up until now. There's
03:42one part of the garden that I am obsessed by. It's this wonderful woodland walk. So I'm
03:49going to try and translate all that I feel about the garden and all that I feel about this
03:54little corner of the garden at this time of year into a pattern. I work in a very, very
03:59traditional way. It's all about the drawing as far as I'm concerned. Luckily I have the
04:03botanical genius that is grandson Albion on hand to identify all the flowers. Provided
04:09they're bluebells.
04:13Lovely. Go and put me a tulip. In the village they call it our nut walk because of the hazelnuts
04:22that grow on either side. And when I want a moment alone, like most British men, I too
04:27have a shed. Although I see it more as a doudois. I suppose it's a bit of a homage to
04:32William Morris
04:32actually. He lived in the Cotswolds not far from here. Actually he lived in a house very similar
04:38to this one. He's always been one of my real design heroes. I love the way that his patterns
04:45feel so kind of muscular. It really feels as if the nature he's drawing has a strength to
04:53it, has a real juiciness to it. And I want to try and capture some of that powerful movement
05:02in the way that this pattern evolves. Once I'm happy with the drawing and I feel that the
05:06whole thing is balanced properly, that the repeat works well, we put it onto the computer
05:11and son-in-law Dan starts playing around with it. We can change various elements. Then the
05:16really important work of colouring in starts. I used to colour it all in by hand but it's
05:24very, very labour intensive and quite inflexible.
05:35With a huge amount of design I have to generate, with all of those patterns that come from my
05:40pen, it's so much easier to be able to change the colour, the texture, the way that the whole
05:46thing works in the computer at this stage. But everything I do starts as a drawing.
06:00Now look, I'm getting quite passionate about Chez Noir these days. It's been, well it's
06:04been our sanctuary after all. So I love the idea of some new sofas. New sofas in, oh, in
06:13the way that the boss thinks.
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